Fantasy Life [3DS] (October 24, 2014)

[Doombear]

How many hours did you put into the JP version Galois? Ready to do it all over again?

[Doombear]

Double post of hype-ness. Just got the game from Amazon a day early. Also hearing that Gamestops have them and you can pick it up today. No street date I guess? Either way, of COURSE I finally get a game early the one time I want to actually wait for DLC before starting. AHHHHH! Excited for midnight!

[Corrderio]

Guess I should check out GameStop before I head home tonight.

[Cream Soda]

Never played rune factory, but a fan of RPGs in general and got pretty sucked into Harvest Moon. What's the multiplayer like in this and worth the price tag in general?

[Burningthought]

Double post of hype-ness. Just got the game from Amazon a day early. Also hearing that Gamestops have them and you can pick it up today. No street date I guess? Either way, of COURSE I finally get a game early the one time I want to actually wait for DLC before starting. AHHHHH! Excited for midnight!

Just called my gamestop and they aren't selling it early.

[Julian]

Never played rune factory, but a fan of RPGs in general and got pretty sucked into Harvest Moon. What's the multiplayer like in this and worth the price tag in general?

Rune Factory is like.. it's similar to Harvest Moon in the town aspects. (Building relations, marriage, etc.) But it has less of an emphasis on farming and more of an emphesis on RPG elements - you get "skills" for everything, skill for sleeping, eating, running, swinging your sword, swinging another weapon, different magic types, etc, doing actions will increase your level, which usually lowers the rp requirement for the action (RP is basically action-stamina), and increases stats and/or max rp. So you level a bunch of shit and get stronger.

It also has a pretty extensive crafting system - there's cooking, blacksmith, craft, and pharmacy. (iirc, don't think I'm missing any?) You get recipes, and you make items to level up, and as you level up you can make more stuff, etc.

There's also the HM classics - farming, fishing, cutting trees, breaking rocks/mining, w/e else I may be forgetting. You can grow crops, then cook them and either sell or use when you go exploring dungeons, same with fish, or you can use your minerals to make weapons/armors/accessories. You also get expansion type stuff with lumber/stone. (Idr if this is true for all RF games, but definitely so for RF4)

Instead of animals, you can tame monsters. Some monsters make items daily (stuff like eggs, milk, wool), and others are only good for fighting or helping out in your field. (Water, harvest, etc). You can also take town friends or your wife out to go fight shit. (Can even take your kid in some games)

Oh and of course there's monsters to kill and dungeons to explore. Some dungeons have mining stuff to do, or some fish ponds, and mobs also drop regular loot, which you can sell or use in crafting.

That's Rune Factory in a nut shell. I'd recommend starting with either RF3 (DS), RF4 (3DS), or RF Frontier (Wii).

Sorry can't speak much for this game as I don't have it yet.

[Ratatapa]

Can you actually accomplish stuff in this game, if you wanna play casual like 1-2h per day?

Or it's gonna take forver to do stuff?

[Mina]

Nothing wrong with playing the game casually, there are a lot of tiny milestones. Lots of content to keep you busy.

The game is actually built around being able to beat the game without picking up a fighting class so if you were trying to just rush the story--it could be easily done. I would say the story plays a huge second fiddle to the rest of the game.

However a good portion of it is exploring the different jobs and of course trying to tackle on the hard objectives outside of the story. (Boss monsters, exploration, crafts... etc)

[Mina]

:O oh man, just started my file for NA version. Okay now I can give tips based on the english text so there won't be a miscommunication.

Menu has Gear, Items, Licenses, Skills, Status, Bliss.

Bliss is a reward system. Going to tell you right fucking now. DO NOT. I repeat. DO NOT waste your time on a horse reward. There are too many good rewards to waste it on a horse. I usually upgrade my inventory first because it starts to bulge very quickly from the random shit you pick up.

Guild Office [looks like a ship wheel or a cog for the sign] is where:

A) You go to change jobs. It's your mog house moogle.
B) You can put items to give to others in the "Exchange Box", so it's the trade menu area.
C) You can turn in Bounties (The large crates, gems, etc from tougher monsters/gathering points)
D) Your StreetPass/Ally/Multiplayer Clerk. Like it says on the tin, this is the multiplayer access area.


There is nothing stopping you for starting all the jobs/crafts/gathering classes and getting their 1st quest done so you can unlock the job. I doooo recommend that you focus all your efforts into only 1 gathering class because there are hard nodes you will come across. Nothing stopping you from picking up everything but definitely... push your efforts into one specific gathering class.


The ranged classes are fairly squishy and you will struggle a little on your own (should be expected) if you're just trying to mash buttons anyways. A cautious player could easily get by but it will be more of a challenge than the melee classes. But as I underlined, if you are playing with another person, being a ranged class is GREAT. You will do tons of damage and not have to worry about being the main target. Alternatively if you are dead set on being a ranged class and playing solo--I would recommend picking up a pet for your early Bliss reward to help sort of "tank" monsters. Or at least hold them a little while you prepare your attack. Every little bit helps...

For classes:
Stars are your... class exp. Completing achievements/quests for each class nets you class exp. You'll get the idea once you start playing. You start out as a Novice rank and work your way up. You get a "Life Bonus" which is stat bonuses based on your rank.
Having the right job with the right tool works out best but you can be on one class and use a weapon/tool of another. EX: A hunter with a lumberjack axe. But you won't get the bonuses of being the proper class so things you might have found to be easier on one class will be harder on the other because of the lack of class bonus.

Some things don't completely transfer over. EX: You can't use a shield on your mage. So. things like that. But you can be a sword wielding archer if you desire... (not sure why).

Hold B while moving to dash. You should pretty much be constantly dashing in town at the very least. Thank me at a later date. Basically, the more you dash, the cheaper dashing will become. And the cheaper dashing is, the longer and more you can dash.

If you hold B before moving, you will end up "sneaking".

[Ratatapa]

we have to talk later on chat mina

[Mina]

XD You can send me a pm or grab me on steam/skype.

[Charismatic]

on chat

lol

[Julian]

I hate you Mina.

Picking this up after work. >_<

[Mina]

One of us. One of us. Gooba-gobble. Gooba-gobble.

But yeah, any questions about the game let me know!

[Ratatapa]

Whats your honest opinion about the 'need DLC' to play with people that have the DLC

[Mina]

It downright sucks. But to put it in perspective...

Japan got Fantasy Life originally but then got a DLC upgrade later on called Fantasy Life Link where they would pay for the Link DLC upgrade. At that time the game had been out long enough that the original price of the game had dropped. You could then buy the DLC upgraded game, Fantasy Life Link at the full price of what Fantasy Life originally came out for.

Japan paid 40$ for the game and then later 20$ for the DLC.
or
Never bought it and paid 40$ for the Fantasy Life Link! version

What they are doing right now is basically the Fantasy Life game and selling the DLC side by side. We'd basically be the people who first bought Fantasy Life in Japan (although paying the DLC at a fraction of what they did).

You can't activate the DLC upgrade until you beat the game so you shouldn't buy the DLC until you beat the game. Hell you might not ever beat the game if you just go on adventure mode and say eff story. So don't buy it until you actually 'need it'. Price might go down by the time you do.

[Ratatapa]

How fun is the game solo?

Cuz knowing me I have 0 friends, so i Doubt i'll be able to play online alot

[Mina]

Hmmm I would say it's like Rune Factory level of fun solo. Which is a lot of fun. This game is probably the closest thing to saying 'Yeah Rune Factory is like this but different in a few ways...'
You can have up to 2 AI pets. The content is the very same with or without multiplayer.

I played the entire game without multiplayer on my JP cartridge and I had a blast lol.

Even if you're just crafting to sell stuff for $$$ in game there is plenty of large ticket items to buy and the NM creatures are enjoyable to fight.

Oh if you are going to play solo you should definitely pick up the Culinarian skill for food buffs. :>

People who like decorating housing and such will have plenty to do. If you're not into that at all just resolve to run around and kill shit. Plenty of reaaaaaaaally tough bosses that kicked my ass six different ways until much later in the game.

Speaking of that...

Guys when they warn you to not fuck with the dragon, don't fuck with the dragon.

Or do it.

Then tell me later how that went.

[Ratatapa]

I just wished there was a demo

[Julian]

Sold out at GameStop, Walmart didn't have it. Maybe its not meant to be.